One more Ezzo book...

[mommy2evan05]

in the trash!!! I work at a crisis pregnancy center and we have a lending library for our clients. Well I noticed today that there was a copy of Babywise on the shelf, so I took it to the director and told her that I thought we should get rid of the book. I started to tell her about the Ezzo methods and she was horrified. She had never read it, someone had just donated it to our library. After hearing about it from me, she promptly threw the book in the garbage can. Yay, I feel like I helped at least 1 kiddo!!!!

[dulce de leche]

Thanks!

[phathui5]

2 more down here. I was at the Book Thing on Saturday and got a copy of the new Babywise and his old one, On Becoming Babywise. What's sad is that on the front of the older one, it said "the natural way to parent your baby."

[royaloakmi]

I buy them at garage sales and throw them out. It gives me immense satisfaction for 25 cents.

[Serrendipity]

I printed out a whole bunch of the tri-fold brochures off of Ezzo.info and put them in all the copies of the books when I was at Borders last time... then I hid them all deep behind other, seldom-visited sections just to be safe. There weren't that many there, and I'm not sure if I should be happy (that there isn't a high demand) or sad (that there aren't many because they sell well) about that one. Living in the relatively crunchy north-west as I do, I choose to believe the former, even if it is self-delusion. And I found the Weisbluth(sp?) book once at my local consignment shop. Once I got it home it became fireplace fodder. Oh, the simple pleasure of seeing it burn!

What I really want to do though is have the stickers made to put in the books "discretely" on the inside front cover. The brochures have more info and are cheaper to copy, but the sticker is forever. I'm always on the lookout for those kind of horrible books, especially at the used places. Whenever I get one off the shelf, I feel like in some small way I just saved some baby from a fate worse than formula since breastfeeding is so, so, SO much more likely to succeed without that PDF crap. But I know I don't have to tell anyone here that!

Happy Ezzo hunting everyone!

[Brigianna]

Good for you!

And cpc's are excellent places to spread the ap/nfl message. I wore my babies several times to volunteer at Birthright, and they were great "conversation pieces."

[DebraBaker]

Great work.

I don't understand some CPC's.

Our church supports one and one way they raise money is to distribute baby bottles and have people fill them up with money.

I won't participate in that because the last thing some poor pregnant woman needs is to see the bottle as an icon of babyhood.

I wonder if they have the dreaded and wretched Ezzo books.

DB

[Brigianna]

Originally Posted by DebraBaker

Great work.

I don't understand some CPC's.

Our church supports one and one way they raise money is to distribute baby bottles and have people fill them up with money.

I won't participate in that because the last thing some poor pregnant woman needs is to see the bottle as an icon of babyhood.

I wonder if they have the dreaded and wretched Ezzo books.

DB

Why shouldn't the mothers see bottles? Do you think that would make them more likely to want to bottle-feed? I'm a little confused.

[DebraBaker]

Bottles being iconic of babyhood is problematic.

Bottles on new baby flags, bottles that come with little dolls, bottles in party games at baby showers.

When people grow up with iconic messages, it is a powerful message. The message? Bottles and bottle-feeding are the *norm* and *belong* with babies.

It is yet one more barrier to breastfeeding.

Debra Baker

[Brigianna]

Originally Posted by DebraBaker

Bottles being iconic of babyhood is problematic.

Bottles on new baby flags, bottles that come with little dolls, bottles in party games at baby showers.

When people grow up with iconic messages, it is a powerful message. The message? Bottles and bottle-feeding are the *norm* and *belong* with babies.

It is yet one more barrier to breastfeeding.

Debra Baker

Okay, that makes sense. But breastfed babies drink from bottles too, don't they? For water, juice, expressed milk? It wouldn't have to represent formula.

I do get your point though.

[tboroson]

I understand what Debra was saying. I've been trying so hard to make my Mom understand this, and not give my kids toys with baby bottles.

Her argument is, "Well, they see babies drinking from bottles. They know they exist. How does it hurt to let them play with these toys?"

My argument is, such toys present the idea of a bottle as the normal way to feed a baby. They generate a social feeling, a meme if you will, in which breastfeeding is the abnormal. Yes, we all know that some people have to bottle feed their babies - either formula or expressed breastmilk. But, those should be on a neccisary basis, not on a "well, it's the norm, so why not?" basis. And, the more we make the bottle iconic, as Debra said, the more that bottle feeding hangs on as "normal" and breastfeeding stays "fringe".

Look at it this way. Some children are insulin dependant diabetics. I'm sensitive to that fact, and am very grateful that they drugs exist to allow them to live a normal life. That doesn't mean that I think syringes should become iconic symbols of childhood. Many adults require drugs to survive, or live normal healthy lives. That doesn't mean that I think a prescription bottle should be the iconic symbol of a healthy lifestyle. Likewise, some babies need to drink from bottles for reasons of health or neccessity (i.e. mom has to return to work). The bottle is a good but still second-best tool. That should *not* supplant images of breastfeeding as the public image of baby feeding.

[phathui5]

Besides, if you use a baby wipes container to raise money, there's more room

[flyingspaghettimama]

Originally Posted by tboroson

Look at it this way. Some children are insulin dependant diabetics. I'm sensitive to that fact, and am very grateful that they drugs exist to allow them to live a normal life. That doesn't mean that I think syringes should become iconic symbols of childhood. Many adults require drugs to survive, or live normal healthy lives. That doesn't mean that I think a prescription bottle should be the iconic symbol of a healthy lifestyle.

OT: While I completely understand what you saying, imagining a little Skipper (of Barbie and Skipper) doll with her own syringe is pretty hilarious. When I a syringe, diabetes is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind...I also like the idea of Prescription Barbie, now with free Merck samples! Have you thought of a career in marketing, tboroson?

I agree. Bottles and Babies are just what go together in Western societies. You never see cute little stickers with babies and breasts...nope.

What was the original topic? Oh yeah - good for you for tossing the Ezzo book in your pregnancy library. I am all for keeping all books at the public library so that we know what's up with things we don't like, but the point of a private library is very different, esp at a crisis pregnancy center.

[AngelBee]

[jenmk]

Never occurred to me to scour the library book sales or garage sales for terrible parenting books! What a great way to save a child. I'll have to use that.

Good for you for getting Ezzo thrown in the trash!!

[Plummeting]

Originally Posted by Brigianna

Okay, that makes sense. But breastfed babies drink from bottles too, don't they? For water, juice, expressed milk? It wouldn't have to represent formula.

I do get your point though.

Your post proves the power of iconic messages. You simply can't get your mind around the fact that babies and bottles do NOT always go together. (Not saying that in a critical tone, just pointing out that you haven't realized how strongly the message has influenced you yourself.) My daughter has never had one bottle in her whole, entire life. Never. We tried a few times, but she wasn't having it. If I have another baby, I will never even attempt to give it a bottle. Even one bottle a day can alter the natural, healthy shape of the mouth, causing more problems with crowded teeth and speech. Besides, I hate pumping and lose the ability after about 4 or 6 months.

Babies shouldn't be drinking water or juice until they're old enough to take a sippy cup or regular cup, so I'm not sure why those things would go in a bottle. And many mamas are fortunate enough to not have to leave their babies for such long periods that a baby would need to take expressed breastmilk. (Although admittedly those "long" periods tend to only last about 30 minutes in the newborn stage. )

Aside from any of that though, bottles DO represent formula. When people see a baby bottle, they do not think of breastmilk, water or juice. They think of formula.

[Brigianna]

No, I can get my mind around it--I didn't mean that all babies took bottles, just that bottles didn't necessarily have to be associated with formula/abm. Both of my kids drank water from bottles. I've heard conflicting opinions about whether it's necessary but never that it's harmful.

[moondiapers]

Originally Posted by Brigianna

No, I can get my mind around it--I didn't mean that all babies took bottles, just that bottles didn't necessarily have to be associated with formula/abm. Both of my kids drank water from bottles. I've heard conflicting opinions about whether it's necessary but never that it's harmful.

I little water won't hurt, but before starting solid foods drinking too much water causes stress to the kidneys.

[CathToria]

good for you on the ezzo books. I also like the idea of stuffing the facts into the new books at the bookstore.

My 3 babies never took bottles.... we tried to feed occasional EBM with the 1st baby, which NEVER happened. The next 2 we didn;t even really try. We go to a ssippie cup when they are ready for water or the orrasional juice.